Black Velvet
by Hawkflight7
Summary: Almost as soft as silk, wound around her wrists. Entangled. They will be eternal.


**Black Velvet**

**Summary: Almost as soft as silk, wound around her wrists. Entangled. They will be eternal.**

**The only excuse I will give - I was in a mood. **

Her footsteps echoed around her as she walked, but mainly she heard the roar of flames as the picture of Mary burned. Ignited by the iron lighter in her pocket. Garry's lighter.

She wanted to return it but after coming down from the room the hallway she had come from didn't even seem to have existed in the first place. No matter how she had pounded at the stone, calling out for him. Because he had to be beyond it right? Trying to find a way to her when he gets up from the ground. When he stopped sleeping.

Ib had gathered up his blue petals from the room and attempted to put them back on the stem of his rose, but they wouldn't stay. Each time they would fall back into her palm. So instead she had moved them to her other pocket, away from the lighter. Even if he was asleep he would still feel it if the flames engulfed the rose petals, and then he would be in pain, suffering again.

_He loves me._

_He loves me not._

_He loves me._

_He loves me not._

_He loves me!_

Mary's voice echoed in her head as she walked. That ecstatic yell when she must have pulled off the last rose and Garry had nearly collapsed on his path to the floor, only supported by the wall keeping him up. The promise he had made her agree to before closing his eyes.

Find the exit and get out.

That's what she had agreed to, but how could she just leave him here? Sleeping in a hall while mannequins and those dolls hunted them down.

A shiver ran down her spine just thinking of those blue-skinned things. With their stringy black hair, red beady eyes tracking their every move. The fact that she hadn't seen them at first. They had been hiding under the facade of those fluffy bunnies. Cute, adorable even. Soft colors like green, yellow, pink. It had reminded her of Easter. Now it just made her skin crawl.

It was because of those dolls she had to leave the wall. She had heard them in the hall, murmuring to themselves, wanting to _play_. At least they hadn't mentioned Garry.

She wondered where he was now. If the petals would sprout from the stem again if she could find another vase of water in here for his rose. The first time she had found him he had been on the floor, moaning, clinging to a dying rose. When she put it into the vase it had been restored. It had to work again. If she could just find one...

There was another echo in the air. Another pair of shoes connecting with the stone floor.

Ib froze. What if it was another mannequin coming for her? Where was it coming from? There were doors on either side of her, the hall branching out ahead of her. If she didn't know from where it came how would she escape? How would she find-

"Garry!" Her voice filled the hall, too loud. But she didn't care. Ib raced down the hall to wrap her arms around his legs, pressing her face to his stomach while standing on her tiptoes. "I knew I would find you!" Her words were muffled as her lips slid across the fabric of his shirt.

"Ib?"

His hands were on her shoulders and she looked up, chin pressed to his abdomen as she craned her head to meet his gaze. "I know you told me to find the exit, but I wasn't going to leave you behind here. This place is too scary for anybody to be in it alone. Now that I found you though we can leave together and be done with this place. That was our plan."

"Our plan?" He paused, glancing down the hall he had come from.

Ib just tightened her grip on him, not wanting to lose him again. His fingers slid along her shoulder, pressing against her neck. Cold. He was cold. She pressed herself to him wanting to warm him up. He must have gotten cold while lying there on the floor, and it was the least she could do after having to leave him there. To hunt down Mary for the pain she caused him. "Garry?" She murmured, "I'm sorry about having to leave you, but I got rid of her. Mary won't bother us again. She won't hurt you again, okay?" Ib wanted to reassure him. With the way he was staring at that hallway she figured he had to be looking for Mary. That he must have heard something and expected the crazy blonde to appear and try to stab him with the knife again.

His eyes were back on her and she smiled. "That's good to hear, but are you okay Ib? I shouldn't have let you go on alone. If I hadn't gotten so weak you wouldn't have to have been all by yourself. I know how much the thought terrifies you."

"But I'm not alone anymore. I have you, Garry." she told him, lowering her head so her cheek was resting against his stomach as she surveyed the hall he had come from. "Did you find the way out?" With him here now that was the last thing she wanted. For them to leave together.

"No, but I found a safe place where the monsters can't get to us. I left my jacket there. We can go by and get it before we leave."

Ah, that must be why he was so cold. "Sure." She would feel safer in a place where the creatures couldn't get to them.

"Some of the portraits in the room are a problem though if you don't close your eyes."

"I can keep my eyes closed while you get the jacket. See?" She closed her eyes, smiling at him before opening them again to see his own smile.

"I see, but just in case." He reached back, hand digging into his pocket before retrieving a piece of velvet. Garry reached down but she stepped back before the cloth could fall over her eyes. "What the matter Ib? Don't you trust me?"

His frown made her want to throw her arms back around him. "Of course I do."

"Then you'll let me?" He raised the fabric back didn't bring it closer until she nodded her head in the affirmative.

She tried to not let the darkness bother her as she felt him tying the black velvet behind her head. Ib would rather see him. It was silly for sure. Thinking he would disappear if she couldn't see him. That he would fade away and she wouldn't be able to find him again. Ib wrapped her hand around his quickly, just to check he was still there. To know he was still next to her. "Lead the way."

"I won't let you go." He seemed to be reassuring her now. Perhaps he had sensed her discomfort somehow. It was probably in how tight she was clinging onto his one hand. Her cheeks darkened at the thought but she didn't let go as they walked.

Ib heard the click of a door and stepped into what must be the room he had been talking about. His hand left hers and she reached out quickly to grab at his shirt.

She could hear him chuckle softly. "I'm not going anywhere Ib. Just getting the jacket." She nodded her head, even though she couldn't see, which probably meant he couldn't with those portraits he had mentioned about. Before she could tell him she knew that Ib felt his hands on hers again, pulling them slowly away from his shirt around to her back. To feel the velvet wrap around her wrists. "I'll always be with you. Remember that."

Ib frowned, trying to pull her hands away from the binding around them but he wound it tighter around her wrists. "Garry?" She couldn't see him. She couldn't feel him. Where was he?

She was starting to panic when she felt the ghost of a breath across her cheek. "We'll be eternal. Together forever. Okay, Ib? You won't ever be alone again. I promise you."

"Garr-" She wanted to ask him what he meant, where the exit could possibly be. But she couldn't even get his name out before his lips were on hers, pressing, insistent that she open her mouth. Then his fingers were on her nose, squeezing.

Her lungs expanded, seeking air. She opened her mouth as she felt her heart hammer in her chest. As she felt him cover her mouth with his own, breathing hard and fast as panic started to sink into her. She couldn't move her hands. She couldn't even get a word out to tell him to stop, that she couldn't breathe.

It wasn't Garry. He wasn't Garry. She felt the certainty course through her as her lungs seared from the heat in her chest. As her heart slowed until it no longer beat inside of her.


End file.
